Evaluation of the reintroduction of Attwater's prairie-chickens in Goliad county, Texas.

摘要

The reintroduction of Attwater's prairie-chickens (APC, Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) raised in captive-breeding facilities has prevented extinction but has only maintained the population at low levels. Post-release survival and brood survival for the first private-lands reintroduction in Goliad County, Texas during 2007 and 2008 were within the variation observed from releases of pen-reared birds at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge and the Texas City Prairie Preserve from 1996-2008. All 3 release sites had lower post-release survival and brood survival than past estimates for wild APCs and contemporary greater prairie-chickens ( T.c. pinnatus) in Minnesota suggesting that both are contributing limiting factors in the successful reintroduction of APCs in Goliad County and in the recovery program as a whole. However, simulation results from a population model found that brood survival was the only variable that could be increased independently and have a successful recovery of 6,000 APCs in 50 years. Sensitivity of population size was constant and identical for the number of birds released and post-release survival, but exponentially increasing for brood survival. Releasing more birds with higher survival will help recover the APC faster but a successful recovery will not be possible without improved brood survival.